Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (also known as Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom (kanji マール王国の人形姫) is the first installment in the Marl series. It was first released in 1998 for the Playstation, and released in America in 2000. It was directed by Koichi Kitazurri and produced by John Yamamoto. A Nintendo DS version was released in 2008 under the name Puppet Princess of Marl's Kingdom: The Angel's Song of Love in Japan, but the same name in America. Story Prologue: A Sudden Encounter After a nightmare in which she is chased by a dragon and rescued by a prince, Cornet Espoir is caught up in her daydreams about her dashing rescuer. Later that day, she and her puppet, Kururu, walk through a forest to harvest Inotium and are attacked by a dragon that is being controlled by a cat girl named Myao and her feline goons. At a critical moment, Prince Ferdinand appears and slays the dragon. Cornet is unable to say anything out shock, and the Prince leaves before she is able to thank him properly. Chapter 1: Much Love! The Great Cooking Plan The next day, Kururu scolds Cornet for ‘not taking the initiative’. Cornet learns on her trip to MotherGreen about the upcoming contest that will determine who become the Prince’s bride. After snooping around the Restaurant on the Lake, she finds out that Ferdinand likes cooked Bobo fish, and decides to make the dish for him as a way of expressing her love. As Cornet and Kururu leave the restaurant, Cornet's childhood friend Etoile Rosenqueen discourages her from participating in the contest, for which Etoile has already prepared by buying every dress in town. The two dismiss her and make their way to Natalie River. After preparing the fish, Cornet and Kururu sneak through abandoned waterways beneath the graveyard in Orange, which (unbeknownst to them) lead to the men’s bathroom in Marl Castle. Here they meet the widely-disliked Marl prime minister, Golonzo, who attempts to eat the Orange Fish Cornet had prepared for the Prince. Fearing for her safety (and the integrity of her dish), Cornet throws the meal at the minister's face. Golonzo interprets this as an assassination attempt, and sics his monster on the two. They narrowly escape, but not before Golonzo threatens them. Chapter 2: Contest Rhapsody After the disastrous trip to the castle, Cornet decides to enter the Miss Marl's Kingdom contest (the prize of which is the Prince's hand in marriage) in an attempt to meet the Prince. After discovering that Etoile's earlier bragging was indeed true and that every dress shop in town is sold out, the pair are tipped off about a potential lead - an abandoned theatre in the Wonder Woods. During their search, Kururu is lured away by the smell of barbecued meat. Following the scent, they find a restaurant in the middle of the woods. In it, they meet a cat chef named Burg who has set up an intricate trap in order to catch humans to cook and eat. Cornet and Kururu successfully chase him away and find a puppet in a deeper room of the restaurant named L-Kun. L-Kun's dream is to entertain people on stage. Cornet takes him in and decides to wear him in place of a fancy dress. Cornet then enters the contest, which has three rounds - one that judges each participant's dress (and how they conduct themselves in it), one that judges each participant's adeptness at fighting, and a final round that judges the participant's personality through music. Before the first round, Cornet accidentally stumbles in on a conversation Etoile is having with her father. Sir RosenQueen insists that Etoile must marry the prince; however, Etoile declares that she has no intention of marrying the prince, or even marrying at all, pointing out that her parents didn't set a good example for her because they only showed her love and affection through money. Sir RosenQueen, enraged at Etoile's words, slaps her across the face. At this point, Etoile runs out of the room, and Sir RosenQueen notices that Cornet and Kururu were listening the whole time. He tells Cornet that she's the best friend Etoile has. During the first round of the contest, Cornet is heckled by the audience. Already deeply embarrassed, Kururu makes the situation worse by laughing at Cornet. Cornet lashes out at Kururu, who runs out. Cornet overhears Sir RosenQueen and Queen Sieglinde talking in the hallway. The Queen admonishes Sir RosenQueen for how he has treated his daughter in the past. For the second round, Cornet is paired up with a girl from Redberry named Olivia, who nearly single-handedly beats Cornet in combat. Cornet is victorious, but notices that her horn is now malfunctioning. She remembers when Kururu told her that the horn would only work properly if she had other people supporting her, and wonders if it's now unresponsive because of her fight with Kururu. Before the last round of the combat stage, Cornet finds Etoile in an empty waiting room and confronts her about the discussion she had with her father. Cornet maintains that Etoile was too harsh on Sir RosenQueen, while Etoile points out that Cornet has no room to talk after her outburst at Kururu. The two reach an agreement that whoever loses the last round of the combat stage has to apologize first. Etoile then reveals that all of the other contestants have by this point bowed out because Etoile unequivocally beat all of her opponents thus far, leaving only her and Cornet to fight. Etoile easily bests Cornet in combat. As Cornet is recovering from Etoile's no-holds-barred attacks, Kururu comes back and the two make up. During the final round, Cornet a duet with Etoile. Sir RosenQueen admits to his mistakes to his daughter, and Queen Sieglinde announces that the contest will now have two winners, and invites everyone to the afterparty on the Prince's Birthday. Chapter 3: Destination of Happiness On the day of Prince Ferdinand's birthday, Cornet travels to the castle. While Kururu and Etoile make jokes about Cornet's attire, Minister Golonzo arrives and recognizes Corner from their previous encounter, but is inadvertently chased away by the Queen. In the main room, the festivities begin and Etoile pushes Cornet to dance with the Prince. They dance and finally properly introduce themselves to each other. On the balcony, Cornet reels from happiness. L-Kun ascends to heaven and leaves his puppet behind now that his wish has been fulfilled. Suddenly, Golonzo appears and once again summons monsters to attack Cornet. Ferdinand, alerted by the noise, stumbles upon them and fires Golonzo from working with the royal family. Once Golonzo leaves, Cornet and Ferdinand are left alone (to the best of their knowledge) and struggle to confess their feelings to one another. Before they make much headway, a loud rumbling leads Ferdinand back into the castle. Cornet follows him back into the main hall to discover that a dragon has burst through the wall. This dragon is controlled by a witch named Marjoly, who has come to exact revenge on the royal family for humiliating Myao in the forest days earlier. However, once she sets her sights on Prince Ferdinand, she becomes preoccupied with flirting with him, and begins chanting a spell to enamor him to her. Mistakenly, however, she casts a spell that turns him to stone. Cornet, Etoile, and Kururu attempt to distract Marjoly to prevent her from kidnapping the Prince in his defenceless state; however, Myao, Crowdia, and Gao defeat them and take off with the Prince. Chapter 4: Women Are All About Taking Action! Chapter 5: A Travelogue Around the World - With Love! Chapter 6: Mother's Heart and Will Epilogue: Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom References Soundtrack Information on the soundtrack can be found here. __STATICREDIRECT__